"Jermaine, good job." At the end of the first quarter, the visiting Pacers trailed the Spurs by three points at 21-24, but when the main players came off the court, head coach Rick Carlisle patted Jermaine O'Neal on the shoulder and complimented him.

"Huh?" Jermaine O'Neal, who was inexplicably praised by the head coach, suddenly felt a little confused, 2 of 5 shots, 5 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block, to say that Jermaine O'Neal's performance in the first quarter of the game can only be said to be decent, but head coach Rick Carlisle praised himself inexplicably, which made Jermaine O'Neal a little suspicious, is there something else behind the head coach's praise of himself?

Although Jermaine O'Neal's singles efficiency is not high, Jermaine O'Neal's continuous singles in the middle of the first quarter did disrupt the Spurs' defensive deployment, and at the same time shared a lot of pressure on Meng Xu on the offensive end, so although the Pacers are still on the lagging side in terms of score, Rick Carlisle is basically satisfied with the performance of the starters on the court.

At the beginning of the second quarter of the game, all the bench players on both sides played, the Spurs side was led by Manu Ginobili and Nick Van Exel, and the Pacers side was led by James Posey and Sarunas Jascovisius, in the comparison of the strength of the bench lineup, the Pacers still have a slight advantage, although the Spurs led the bench lineup in the finals last season with an average of 20 points, 6 rebounds, 4.5 assists per game The new All-Star Manu Ginobili, but the Pacers' side, The bench lineup, consisting of Mutombo, Jeff Foster, James Posey, Anfernee Hardaway and Sarunas Jascovisius, is definitely one of the strongest in the entire league.

Unlike the main lineup that is basically evenly divided, as soon as the bench lineups of both sides come on the court, the Pacers quickly reverse the situation on the court, because the bench lineup basically does not need to consider defense, so the defense has always been a short board, Salunas Jascovitius, after changing to the bench, instead played an unexpected role, Salunas Jascovitius, who is good at organization and offense, can freely display his talent on the offensive end on the court after losing the fetters of defense, assists, breakthroughs, and scoring, Under Nick Van Exel's useless defense, Sarunas Jascovy Hughes is simply omnipotent, and on the Spurs side, Manu Ginobili is stuck in the quagmire of James Posey, and the Pacers managed to overtake the score after only 3 minutes of play in the second quarter, so before the official timeout, the main lineups of both sides reappeared.

"This bastard, coward." Robert Hawley, who was running back and forth between Meng Xu and Jermaine O'Neal, finally couldn't help but burst into a foul language at Meng Xu who was not far away after being shot by Jermaine O'Neal YAN.

Originally, in Popovich's arrangement, Robert Hawley's main task on the defensive end was to cooperate with Bruce Bowen to pinch Meng Xu, and then defend the Pacers' No. 4 position by the way when Tim Duncan couldn't reach him, but from the second half of the first quarter, Meng Xu's ball holding time was greatly reduced, not only that, as long as Robert Hawley rushed over to wrap Meng Xu, Meng Xu would not hesitate to hand over the basketball to Jermaine O'Neal, as Robert Hawley's opponent player, After Jermaine O'Neal holds the ball, it is impossible for Robert Hawley not to defend, and in Robert Hawley's opinion, Jermaine O'Neal's guy is really a CAO egg, such a big guy, obviously black and hard, but this guy has always floated at the top of the arc and near the free throw line, and he doesn't go to the basket at all, if he is willing to go to the basket, with Tim Duncan, he will not be so embarrassed.

After Jermaine O'Neal forced Robert Hawley, Meng Xu, who quickly retreated to the backcourt, squeezed his eyes at Popovich's slight smile standing on the sidelines when he passed the Spurs' bench, as if to tell Popovich that your defensive strategy has failed.

"Greg, do you want to replace Robert with Rasu? It's a shame to let him defend Jermaine. Just when Meng Xu and Popovich were making eye contact, Steve Cole, who was standing next to Popovich, also began to make his own suggestions to Popovich.

Originally, in the Spurs' pre-game plan, Duncan sat alone in the low post, which was enough to call the Pacers' two interior NN-Hilario and Jermaine O'Neal, because Duncan had such an ability, and then focused on wrapping Meng Xu on the outside, forcing Meng Xu to pass or force a single, but now it seems that the Spurs' strategy has not worked, because the Pacers' tactical axis seems to have been transferred from Meng Xu to Jermaine O'Neal, and at this time, it is basically meaningless to wrap Meng Xu again, And with Robert Hawley's height, it was too much of a loss for him to defend Jermaine O'Neal, so Steve Kerr suggested replacing Robert Hawley with Rasu Nestrovic and letting Duncan play against Jermaine O'Neal.

"It's a dilemma." Compared with Steve Kerr, Popovich wants to look further, the Pacers shifted the tactical axis from Meng Xu to Jermaine O'Neal's body, which is nothing more than taking a fancy to Jermaine O'Neal's mismatch advantage when he singled Robert Hawley, and also hopes to rely on Jermaine O'Neal's continuous singles to break the Spurs' crazy bag of Meng Xu, at this time, replace Robert Hawley, who is not tall enough, with a center, and let Tim Duncan defend Jermaine O'Neal, It will definitely be able to play a role in limiting Jermaine O'Neal, but once the Spurs are replaced with a slow-paced inside, then Meng Xu's bag is bound to be self-defeating, because you can't expect Duncan to pull outside the three-point line to wrap Meng Xu, so Popovich still has great concerns about this kind of demolition of the east wall and the west wall, after all, in Popovich's eyes, the biggest threat to the Pacers on the court is Meng Xu.

After much hesitation, Popovich finally rejected Steve Cole's proposal and chose to keep it as it was, allowing Jermaine O'Neal to play non-stop singles.

In the end, at the end of the half, the Pacers took a 51-49 lead, relying on Jermaine O'Neal's 5-of-9 shooting in the second quarter and Sarunas Jascovitius' outburst at the beginning of the second quarter.